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The Wild Thornberrys Movie
The Wild Thornberrys Movie is a 2002 American animated adventure comedy-drama film directed by Cathy Malkasian and Jeff McGrath and based on the Nickelodeon animated television series The Wild Thornberrys. The film was produced by Nickelodeon Movies and Klasky Csupo and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was released on December 20, 2002. A direct crossover followup, Rugrats Go Wild, was released on June 13, 2003. Plot Eliza Thornberry, a 12-year-old, has the power to talk to animals and often goes exploring with her best friend, a chimpanzee named Darwin. The Thornberrys are in East Africa while being visited by Nigel's mother, Cordelia. While there, Eliza and Darwin sneak off to play with a trio of cheetah cubs, one named Tally, whom Eliza is friends with, and are left to watch them by their mother Akela. While playing, Eliza goes past the baobab tree despite Akela telling her not to, and despite Darwin's attempt to make her acknowledge this. Suddenly, a gunshot rings out and they spot a helicopter flying towards them. They run, recognizing them as poachers, one of whom climbs down a ladder and grabs Tally. Eliza climbs up in an attempt to save the cub and nearly falls to her death, but is caught at the last second by Debbie driving the comvee. That night, Eliza is scolded for going off at night and Debbie reveals that she does this constantly, prompting Cordelia to convince her parents to send Eliza to boarding school in London for her own safety. Eliza arrives in London and finds that Darwin has stowed away in her luggage. The chimp tries to blend in with the other school girls, but is eventually caught and sent to live in the stable with a horse named Thunder. Eliza later shares her story with the other girls, who are deeply moved by the loss of Tally. That night, Eliza dreams of Shaman Mnyambo, the man who granted her power to talk to animals, telling her to go out to save Tally and that she has a great destiny ahead of her. Eliza and Darwin promptly sneak out of London to a train in Nairobi, Africa. On the way, they spot a black rhino running alongside the train and rush to aid him; the rhino says that he was shot by poachers at the river. They are greeted by a couple, Sloan and Bree Blackburn, who claim to be studying the local wildlife. After the rhino is carried off to recover at a sanctuary, Eliza thinks that he was shot by the same poachers who kidnapped Tally, having noticed the same knife entangled in the netting on the rhino, but Darwin convinces her to find her parents first. Meanwhile, Nigel and Marianne drive off to film the solar eclipse at Tempo Valley in the Congo and the forest elephants who come out when it occurs. Debbie is left to watch her wild step-brother Donnie. They are greeted by Cordelia and her husband, Colonel Radcliffe, who inform them of Eliza's escape. Eliza and Darwin eventually arrive at the camp and, after gathering supplies and trapping Debbie in the shark cage set up for Donnie, rush off to find their parents, with Donnie following them. Debbie eventually breaks out of the cage and follows after them in the land rover. She eventually gets lost and meets a native boy named Boko, who is sent along by his tribe to assist her. Cordelia and Radcliffe, having overslept, contact Nigel and Marianne to inform them of their daughters' current status, and together they travel down the river to find them. Eliza, Darwin and Donnie come across a gorilla who informs them of poachers building a fence, which puzzles them. The trio then come across the Blackburns' campsite, where Eliza informs them of what the poacher's are doing, but quickly realizes that the fence is electric and is intended to kill the forest elephants that will be migrating to Tempo Valley. The spend the night there and awaken to find Donnie having broken into the Blackburns' trailer, which is full of equipment used to capture animals. Inside they find Tally, and the Blackburns return and reveal themselves as the poachers. Sloan ties Eliza up and interrogates her on the source of her knowledge of their work, which she claims were just guesses. Sloan leaves when Bree calls him outside, and Tally informs Eliza that the duo possess explosives and begins to bite through the ripe binding her hands. Eliza and Darwin get into an argument on her trusting poachers the whole time and not using her powers properly, prompting Eliza to yell at Darwin to be quiet for once, and Darwin's feelings are hurt. On the monitor, they see Debbie and Boko riding up, and Sloan takes her hostage when she reveals herself to be Eliza's sister, though Boko tries to defuse him. Eliza runs out to help Debbie, but is restrained by Bree, and Sloan threatens to throw Debbie over the edge of a cliff if Eliza does not inform him of her knowledge, during which she accidentally mentions the explosives. With no way out, Eliza admits to knowing because of the animals. A storm kicks up, and the Blackburns escape in the helicopter while Boko is blown away by the strong wind while Eliza is stripped of her powers. Together, the children and animals float down the river to Tempo Valley, during which Eliza reveals to Debbie why she always sneaks off with Darwin and what caused the storm. Debbie demands Eliza prove it, but Eliza explains that she broke the rule by revealing her secret, and now she cannot apologize to Darwin for yelling at him earlier. They then arrive at Tempo Valley and witness thousands of forest elephants walking towards the electric fence. Their parents witness this as well and spot the poachers and rush down to stop them. Eliza climbs down to reach the matriarch of the herd to convince her to turn the herd around. Boko suddenly drives up with the land rover, and Debbie jumps down with him to drive after Eliza. Using a medal Nigel had given her earlier, Eliza chucks it at the fence to set off sparks, causing the matriarch to stop and Eliza nudges her behind the ear (a tactic she learned from her elephant friend Phaedra earlier in the film), and manages to turn the herd around, all the solar eclipse is going on. Nigel and Radcliffe cut the wires to the poachers' explosives, but Sloan flies down and grabs Eliza off the matriarch and drops her into the river, where she is pulled out by Shaman Mnyambo. Meanwhile, the elephants angrily grab the ladder hanging from the helicopter, which crashes into the side of a cliff as the Blackburns fall to the ground, where they are arrested by the authorities. Eliza tearfully apologizes to Mnyambo for breaking the rule and supposedly getting the elephants killed, but the Shaman reveals that the elephants are alive and that she saved them with her heart, and that she is capable of doing great things even without her powers, which he promptly returns; however, he questions on how well Debbie can keep a secret. The children reunite with their parents and Debbie says goodbye to Boko, who is given her watch as a gift and reminder of their friendship. Eliza also reunites with and apologizes to Darwin, after which she is praised by Nigel for her bravery, and the matriarch returns the recovered medal to them. The Thornberrys return the comvee and Tally is reunited with his family. Afterwards, Eliza warns Debbie that she will turn into a baboon if she reveals Eliza's secret, angering Debbie who then chases Eliza during the middle of their parents filming a baboon troop. Donnie begins giving everyone a wedgie and they all begin doing a crazy dance among the baboons as the cheetahs watch on from a distance. Cast * Lacey Chabert as Eliza Thornberry * Tim Curry as Nigel Thornberry and Colonel Radcliffe Thornberry * Jodi Carlisle as Marianne Thornberry * Danielle Harris as Deborah "Debbie" Thornberry * Flea as Donald Michael "Donnie" Thornberry * Tom Kane as Darwin * Lynn Redgrave as Cordelia Thornberry * Rupert Everett as Sloan Blackburn * Marisa Tomei as Bree Blackburn * Brock Peters as Jomo * Alfre Woodward as Akela * Kimberly Brooks as Tally * Cree Summer as Phaedra * Brenda Blethyn as Mrs. Fairgood * Obba Babatunde as Boko * Kevin Michael Richardon as Shaman Mnyambo * Melissa Greenspan as Sarah Wellington * Tara Strong, Hynden Walch, and Mae Whitman as the schoolgirls * Roger L. Jackson as Reggie and Thunder * John Kassir and Charles Shaughnessy as the Squirrels * Jeff Coopwood as Park Ranger Tim * Billy Brown as the Rhino * Keith Szarabajka as a poacher * Earl Boen as the Gorilla Category:Films Category:Paramount Pictures films Category:Nickelodeon Movies films Category:Children and family films Category:PG-rated films Category:Traditional animated films Category:Adventure films Category:Comedy-drama films Category:Films Based on TV Shows Category:2000s films Category:2002 films